In this corner
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 8:05 pmLook up.
Way up.
There go your property taxes if the new OPP funding formula proposed for 2015 unfolds as planned.
This may be the apparent beating of a dead horse, but it’s important.
It’s important because the situation is direr than initially projected.
At a meeting of the county’s finance committee last week, the treasurer informed councilors that under the proposed formula, the yearly policing costs for the county’s four municipalities combined would jump from $3.3 million to $8.5 million.
Haliburton County would be the second-most adversely affected municipality in the province, next to only the neighboring District of Muskoka.
Yearly costs there would spike from $9.7 million to $17 million.
The impetus behind the new framework is apparently the equalization of municipal OPP costs throughout the province. While the county is among the losers, there are also winners, who will see their policing costs drop.
These areas are all urban centres, by the way.
The proposed increases are unfairly high and the county’s townships cannot afford them.
Last week the county’s treasurer used the words “wrong” and “flawed” to describe the funding formula.
That’s strong language from a bureaucrat, folks. It’s a big, fat red flag.
The auditor general has said the annual cost for one OPP equates to $159,000, including salary, benefits, etc.
Using that figure, at the current rate, the county pays for 21 officers.
There are 29 at the Haliburton Highlands detachment, so, using the auditor general’s figures, one could argue the county hasn’t been paying its fair share (if one believes that police officers aren’t overpaid).
With annual policing costs of $8.5 million, the county would be paying for 54 officers, but see no service increase.
County taxpayers would be paying for its 29 officers, plus 25 more in other communities.
The county is getting steamrolled. Screwed.
“This is the biggest thing that’s happened ever in our county to destroy us.”
That’s how Dysart et al Reeve Murray Fearrey described the situation last week.
Fearrey has spent 40 years in municipal politics. He’s seen a lot of stuff go down.
The proposed formula would mean more than half of his township’s annual tax levy would be spent on policing costs, this figure dropping slightly for Minden Hills, Algonquin Highlands and Highlands East.
To absorb it would require massive property tax hikes. Fearrey has thrown around the figure of 35 per cent. He’s scared that between OPP costs and increasing hydro bills, some county residents might lose their homes.
County council is doing its best to advocate for itself. It has requested and received a seat on an OPP billing costs steering committee organized by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Minden Hills Reeve Barb Reid is the county’s representative. Reid doesn’t have trouble expressing herself and will no doubt get the message across.
However, that committee is comprised of reps of both loser and winner municipalities.
The reeve’s voice will be countered by that of leaders whose jurisdictions are benefiting from the proposed framework.
One reader wrote on Twitter last week that it’s time for the taxpayers to fight back and she’s right.
For those so inclined, now is the time to speak up. Help your politicians. Petition the province. Call Laurie Scott. Contact the minister of community safety. Contact the premier’s office.
Put on your proverbial boxing gloves.
It’s time to fight.
http://www.mindentimes.ca/2014/02/18/in-this-corner
Way up.
There go your property taxes if the new OPP funding formula proposed for 2015 unfolds as planned.
This may be the apparent beating of a dead horse, but it’s important.
It’s important because the situation is direr than initially projected.
At a meeting of the county’s finance committee last week, the treasurer informed councilors that under the proposed formula, the yearly policing costs for the county’s four municipalities combined would jump from $3.3 million to $8.5 million.
Haliburton County would be the second-most adversely affected municipality in the province, next to only the neighboring District of Muskoka.
Yearly costs there would spike from $9.7 million to $17 million.
The impetus behind the new framework is apparently the equalization of municipal OPP costs throughout the province. While the county is among the losers, there are also winners, who will see their policing costs drop.
These areas are all urban centres, by the way.
The proposed increases are unfairly high and the county’s townships cannot afford them.
Last week the county’s treasurer used the words “wrong” and “flawed” to describe the funding formula.
That’s strong language from a bureaucrat, folks. It’s a big, fat red flag.
The auditor general has said the annual cost for one OPP equates to $159,000, including salary, benefits, etc.
Using that figure, at the current rate, the county pays for 21 officers.
There are 29 at the Haliburton Highlands detachment, so, using the auditor general’s figures, one could argue the county hasn’t been paying its fair share (if one believes that police officers aren’t overpaid).
With annual policing costs of $8.5 million, the county would be paying for 54 officers, but see no service increase.
County taxpayers would be paying for its 29 officers, plus 25 more in other communities.
The county is getting steamrolled. Screwed.
“This is the biggest thing that’s happened ever in our county to destroy us.”
That’s how Dysart et al Reeve Murray Fearrey described the situation last week.
Fearrey has spent 40 years in municipal politics. He’s seen a lot of stuff go down.
The proposed formula would mean more than half of his township’s annual tax levy would be spent on policing costs, this figure dropping slightly for Minden Hills, Algonquin Highlands and Highlands East.
To absorb it would require massive property tax hikes. Fearrey has thrown around the figure of 35 per cent. He’s scared that between OPP costs and increasing hydro bills, some county residents might lose their homes.
County council is doing its best to advocate for itself. It has requested and received a seat on an OPP billing costs steering committee organized by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Minden Hills Reeve Barb Reid is the county’s representative. Reid doesn’t have trouble expressing herself and will no doubt get the message across.
However, that committee is comprised of reps of both loser and winner municipalities.
The reeve’s voice will be countered by that of leaders whose jurisdictions are benefiting from the proposed framework.
One reader wrote on Twitter last week that it’s time for the taxpayers to fight back and she’s right.
For those so inclined, now is the time to speak up. Help your politicians. Petition the province. Call Laurie Scott. Contact the minister of community safety. Contact the premier’s office.
Put on your proverbial boxing gloves.
It’s time to fight.
http://www.mindentimes.ca/2014/02/18/in-this-corner